Golf courses in Île-de-France
Discover the detailed guide to all the golf courses located in the Île-de-France region. You can leave a comment, a vote or an anecdote on all the golf courses in the golf directory
Where to play golf in Île-de-France? The detailed guide to all the golf courses in the region
Golf courses by Department in Île-de-France - Golf & Hotels
Around Paris: Golf courses in Île-de-France - Capital of Golf Courses?
Île de France is the most Gallic region in France. It is not a surprise because it is also the most populated. This predominance began in the 80s when the practice of golf touched the middle classes. Between large private clubs and commercial golf courses, the enthusiast is spoiled for choice.
Happy Parisians who are spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing the golf course for their weekend. Because seven of the eight departments that make up the Ile de France (Seine et Marne, Yvelines, Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val de Marne et Val d'Oise) offer more than seventy courses to the bulimia of golfers. A figure that can easily be inflated by adding the routes to the south of the Oise which are less than forty kilometers from the ring road. Moreover, Ile-de-France residents represent the bulk of the golfing troops listed in the French Golf Federation. Ninety thousand out of two hundred and ninety thousand, or one third of the licensees.
In this context, commercial golf courses have embarked on a real price war. Senior days, women's days, meals offered with the green fee…, golf course managers have thus developed treasures of the imagination to attract this new clientele. On the other hand, private golf courses have long closed their doors so as not to be overwhelmed by an uncontrolled arrival before they too follow suit, lowering entry fees in order to compensate for the departures of members, seduced by these newcomers. golf courses with modern layouts and less expensive membership fees.
To play golf in the Paris region, it is better to live in the west than in the northeast. Because the Yvelines, which has the most golfers in France (nearly 23) is also the department with the most courses. Twenty-two courses against just one in Seine-Saint-Denis! And double compared to Val d'Oise. This unbalanced distribution is the consequence of the social cut that has existed since the last century between the more industrial and popular east of Paris and the more sedentary and bourgeois west.
If the Paris region today occupies the most important place in French golf, the practice of this sport took decades to establish itself since the first courses still in existence did not open until the beginning of the XNUMXth century, i.e. fifty years after the creation of the Pau golf course. At the turn of the century, French golf was initiating a radical revolution: golf played only on vacation on the French Riviera, the Basque Coast or the Normandy coast, would become a weekend practice if not a daily passion.
Golf in the Paris region has also developed in the less populated parts of Ile de France. This is why the south of Essonne and the western part of Seine-et-Marne, two agricultural departments, have also experienced the frenzy of the routes ... While at the same time, the small department of Hauts -de-Seine did not have the necessary space and the price of the land is also vertiginous there to build 18-hole golf equipment. This department has only one golf course with more than 9 holes, the very private golf course of Saint-Cloud.
Golf Saint Cloud
Still, Saint Cloud is the golf course (it has 36 holes) closest to the Capital. Less than eight kilometers from Porte Maillot. Built on the grounds of the Château de Buzenval, the battlefield between the French and the Prussians, on January 19, 1871, the Saint-Cloud golf course has the funny feature of not having one square meter in the town of the same name. But it was the creation on December 2, 6 of the “Saint-Cloud” Country Club that gave the name to the club, whose fairways extend over the towns of Garches and Vaucresson. Be so close to Paris is an immense privilege for this club, which hosted crowned heads like the Duke of Windsor, Leopold of Belgium or King Hassan II and personalities from the political world like Dwight Eisenhower and President François Mitterand who liked to come on Mondays, day of closing, play his weekly game.
The birth of great golf courses and private clubs near Paris
From 1900 to 1910, three major routes will be inaugurated: The Boulie brand in 1901 Fontainebleau and in 1908 Whipped Cream the next year. First to arrive in this chronology, the Boulie will have the privilege of bearing the name of Golf Club de Paris before becoming the Racing Club de France La Boulie. Since then, two clubs have dared: the Paris International Golf Club, in Bouffémont, and the 9-hole course at the Saint-Cloud racecourse, the Paris Country Club.
Chantilly Golf
Of the three courses that make up this Parisian trilogy, Whipped Cream is closest to tradition. Five of its members are at Royal & Ancient of St Andrews, the guardian club of golf orthodoxy. In Chantilly, the sponsors kindly stay at the door. The Sunday competitions are endowed by the members and the silver cups and trays replace the umbrellas, towels and logoed sweaters which clutter up the price reductions of commercial golf courses. "We are among gentlemen, let's behave like gentlemen", is the credo of these timeless golfers who set off with delight on the two 18 holes, the Vineuil, which is the original course, and the Longères.
Inaugurated on September 28, 1909 with an exhibition match between the two great champions of the time, Arnaud Massy and Jean Gassiat, the club organized ten Opens of France and all the biggest amateur competitions. The best players in the world, including Bobby Jones, came to measure themselves at the 6 meters of the course of Vineuil, masterpiece of intelligence of the English architect Tom Simpson, and all suffered from the terrible roughs which recall those of the British Open.
Fontainebleau golf course
One of the most beautiful and oldest courses in France, the golf of Fontainebleau is narrow but the rough is almost nonexistent. But beware of the capricious balls which end in the dense forest which encloses the fairways in its vegetable and mineral mass. Indeed, the famous sandstone rocks of the forest are sometimes used on the course as at 12, a long uphill par 5 barred two-thirds, by white rocks that seem to be waves covered with foam rolling on an ocean. of turf.
The democratization of golf
For around sixty years, the pace of opening up new golf courses is as slow as the progress of new practitioners: Port-Marly, which has now disappeared, Saint-Germain, Morfontaine, the most closed club in France, International Club of Lys and Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche golf course which, in the late 50s, was the first example of a french real estate golf. Thanks to the Lancôme Trophy, which has been held there since 1970, the 36 holes of Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche have acquired an international dimension.
It was in the 70s, then in the following decade, that the Ile de France was stained with small red flags. This time, golf is taking off in France and the Paris region is at the forefront of the movement. Especially since the opening of the first Saint-Aubin public golf course, on August 15, 1974, under the impetus of two idealists, Emmanuel Veillas and Gilles Boutrolle, who, through the creation of their company SOGEL (Society for the management of leisure equipment), will greatly contribute to the explosion of 80 years.
During these blessed years, the percentage of licensees increased by more than 20% per year. It is the golden age. Golf is now reaching the middle classes. These new players want to play now and for less. No more endless lessons at the driving range under the fussy eyes of golf teachers.
The golf clubs waltz in atypical swings and the money goes into the cases. Investors immediately followed suit and architects abandoned the building to design fairways and greens full time. Projects are pouring in, “designers” are working day and night to meet demand. It was also the time when the Japanese made a sensational entry into French golf with the creation of golf courses. Cély-en-Bière, Fountains, Clement-Ader, Feucherolles, Apremont ...
Cély-en-Bière
A Cély-en-Bière (Seine et Marne), the Urban group spends without counting. Taking over an unfinished project, he commissioned two French architects, Mark Adam and Patrick Fromanger, to redo a new course built entirely on sand. Waterfalls, flower beds, outdoor sculptures adorn this garden course with such perfect maintenance that many players, unaccustomed to this magnificence, do not dare to hit their ball on the fairway for fear of damaging this surrounded paradise. of walls. The small castle is transformed into a clubhouse and underground car parks are set up. At the opening of Cély golf course, the bill amounts to 250 million francs! For the inauguration with great fanfare, the golf promoters are organizing a Women's World Championship with the eight best projects. Since then, the Urban group, grappling with financial difficulties in Japan, has given way to compatriots who have returned to healthier management.
Prestigious architects for "Parisian" golf courses
In this context of economic boom, American architects are in great demand. Their prestigious signatures ensure immediate publicity for these new routes. Jack Nicklaus draws the Paris International Golf Clubor a Baillet-en-France, Robert Trent Jones Sr, the two 18 holes of Joyenval in the heart of the Retz desert, Ronald Fream, theIsle Adam and Eurodisney golf course, in the plains of Brie, and Robert Van Hagge, the 36 holes of Courson-Monteloup et the course of the Albatross du Golf National, the latter in collaboration with Hubert Chesneau, general manager of the French Golf Federation.
The National Golf
Located in the plains of the industrial zone of GuyancourtWithin Yvelines, the course of the Albatross National Golf is a real golf stadium. The first in France built on the model of the TPC (Tournament Players Course), hosts of many tournaments on the American circuit. A golf stadium requires grandstands to accommodate the public. Also, a clever use of cut and fill allowed the construction of large grassy mounds along most of the fairways. The spectators of the eight penultimate French Open thus followed in a privileged way the game of the champions.
Another stroke of genius of this extraordinary course, the subtle blend of links and Floridian architecture in the heart of France. Thus certain holes like the 3, 7 or 12 have a resolutely Irish "look" while the 15 and 18 with their greens in peninsulas have a very "Miami Slice" character. Open to all players with a handicap of 24 or less, the Albatros du Golf National course has another 18 holes, the Eagle and a 9-hole initiation course, the Oiselet. best golf test in the Paris region. Playing your handicap is a miracle or a keen sense of strategy as the difficulties accumulate there to crack the most solid of swings. We do not go to the National Golf to admire the landscape it does not present any real interest nor for the atmosphere of the clubhouse it is reduced to its minimum portion but we rush there for the love of the game and flirt with danger. The landing net in the bag is highly recommended for fishing out your balls from the water hazards that dot eleven of the eighteen holes of the course and dreaming of playing the Ryder Cup ...
The last born
Paris and its region today live on their achievements. Only one new course opened in 1998, the Owl golf course in the Yvelines, a production by Robert Trent Jones. It now remains to equip the Ile de France with compact urban courses like the successes of the Rueil-Malmaison golf course and Ile Fleurieor a Chatou or Haras de Jardyor a Vaucresson, in departments still poor in golfing equipment such as the Seine-Saint-Denis. The practice golf courses in Paris on the racetracks of Longchamp andAuteuil, apart from the days of races meet with some success. Paris and golf are now written in capital letters.
Quotes and anecdotes from golf courses around Paris in the Île de France region. Did you know ?
- The clubhouse of Saint-Nom-la- Bretèche golf course was an old farm under Louis XIV.
- From the flowery putting green of Saint-Nom-la Bretèche, the space opens onto the 1 of the red course and the blue course
- From the elevated start of the 3 of Fontainebleau, the view embraces the largest forest in France
- Morfontaine golf course is the most closed club in France
- With its two 18-hole golf courses, its swimming pool, its tennis courts and its equestrian center, The International golf Club du Lys is a sports and family club.
- The clubhouse of Chantilly golf course is the French relay of Royal & Ancient of St Andrews.
- The bar of the Fontainebleau clubhouse and the frescoes by the painter Paul Tavernier
- Sandstone rocks block access to the splendid par 5 of 12 of the Fontainebleau golf course.
- The clubhouse of Saint-Germain golf course was restored after the terrible fire of December 29, 1952.
- Honor roll at the Saint-Germain golf course with the name of Severiano Ballesteros, record holder of the course with the score of 62
- Japanese madness, the castle of Cély was completely refurbished and its rooms decorated with works of art.
- Le Joyenval golf course is the last private club built around the capital
- Au Disneyland Paris golf course, the name of the courses is borrowed from the world of children: Tinker Bell, Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland
- Robert Van Hagge's journey in Courson, can be recognized at first glance from the water, grassy knolls and vast bunkers and looks like the National golf course
- Le Priory golf course takes its name from a magnificent building converted into a clubhouse.
- Le Paris International Club, in the Val d'Oise, is the only French achievement by Jack Nicklaus. For a few years now, the proets of the European circuit have been competing there for the Women's French Open and are suffering on the green on the island of 18 which does not forgive the overly timid attacks.